ECEA AT NCTE 2026
THURSDAY
1pm-2.15pm C sessions
Stories for Sustainability: Using Picture Books to Build Environmental Literacy and Promote Student Activism in Elementary Classrooms
William Rodgers, School District of the City of York, Katherine Nigra, School District of the City of York, Aileen Hower, Millersville University
Location: 120-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Cultural Sustenance as the Third Eye
Kindel Nash, Appalachian State University; Roderick Peele, Northern Parkway Elementary School/Uniondale Union Free School District, NY; Kerry Elson, Central Park East 2; Alicia Arce-Boardman, Erik Sumner, Northern Parkway School, Bilal Polson, Northern Parkway School
Location: 118-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
2.30pm-3pm D sessions
Libros Cartoneros: Artevismo and Bibliodiversidad for Community Engagement
Jesse Gainer, Nancy Valdez-Gainer, Texas State-San Marcos
Location: 118-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
2.30pm-3.30pm-First timers’ event. Location TBA
3.15pm-3.45pm E sessions
Imagine What Baldwin Might Say: Inspiring Racial Literacy Development and Culturally Relevant Teaching with “A Talk to Teachers”
Katie Harlan Eller, Teachers College, Columbia University Tara Kirton, Hunter College, The City University of New York (CUNY)
Location: 116, Pennsylvania Convention Center
5.30pm-7pm Elementary Section Get-Together: Ballroom A
7.00pm-8.30pm Cultural Celebration
FRIDAY
11.45am-12.15pm H sessions
Planting Abolitionist Literacies in Pre-K: Bilingual, Queer Joy and Young Changemakers
Nicole Laugier, NYC Department of Education/Brooklyn College
Location: 113-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
12.30pm-1.45pm I sessions
Whose Science? Whose Reading?: Lessons from the Field on the Science of Reading
Gail Boldt, Penn State University; Patricia Enciso, The Ohio State University; Amanda Armstrong, Independent Scholar; Jordan Freeman, Morehouse College; Brooke Blacknall, Spelman College; Natasha Thornton, Spelman College; Melissa Kurtz, Independent Scholar; Lindsey Lush, Augusta University; Kyle Arlington, Teachers College - Columbia University; Alina Lewis, SUNY Albany; Elenita Irrizarry Ramos, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ysaaca Axelrod, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Location: 124, Pennsylvania Convention Center
2.00pm-2.30pm J sessions
Go Outside and Write: Nature Journaling That Builds Voice, Wonder, and Care
Presenter: Kinla Nelson, City View Elementary School
Location: 117, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Embodied Popular Media Literacies: Reimagining Early Childhood ELA through Play, Culture, and Identity
Presenters: Rachel Knight, Teachers College, Columbia University, Carmen Lugo Llerena, Teachers College, Columbia University
Location: 111-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
2.45pm-3.15pm K sessions
Curriculum Gaps: How Literacy Programs Miss the Potential of Multigenre Text Sets
Ysaaca Axelrod, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Denise Ives
Location: 111-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
3.30pm-4.45pm L sessions
Lighting the Way: Using Picture Books to Illuminate Possibilities, Inspire Inquiry, and Shine a Light on Each Child’s Potential by Rethinking Resiliency
Melissa Trempe, Simon & Schuster/Sourcebooks, Jonathan Roth, Dara Henry, Leah Moser, Heather Stigall, Heather Stigall Author
Location: 113-C, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Multi-Modal Storytelling and Preliteracy Skills
Gene Mirus, Gallaudet University, Peter Cook, Princeton University, Joshua Beckman, Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Donna Jo Napoli, Swarthmore College, Dara Hiles, Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
Location: 124, Pennsylvania Convention Center
6.30pm-9pm Friday night celebration. Location TBA
SATURDAY
8.15am-9.30am M sessions
Engaging Young Children Through Multimodal Opportunities for Authentic Writing.
Justine Carmen Williams, North Mason School District- Mary E Theler Early Learning Center; Tracy Coskie, Western Washington University; Tasha Tropp Laman, Western Washington University
Location: 202-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Illuminating Authentic, Joyful, Responsive Literacy Instruction in PreK: Supporting Play, Language, Reading, and Writing across the Day
Hannah Schneewind, Trusting Readers LLC, Whitney LaRocca, La Rocca Literacy, Julia Soulvis, Community Nursery School
Location: 108-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
11.00am-12.15pm N sessions
Imagining, Innovating, and Inspiring Every Day through Culturally Sustaining Elementary Literacy Pedagogies
PDCRT Cohort. Kindel Nash, Appalachian State University; Roderick Peele, Northern Parkway Elementary School/Uniondale Union Free School District, NY; Yang Wang, University of South Carolina: Maria Rodriguez-Maldonado, Pulaski K-8 School : Yvette Marie Regalado, Lamar University; Sally Brown, Georgia Southern University; Rubi Brioso, Samara Community School; Kaya Richardson, Belvoir Elementary; Cecilia Espinosa, Lehman College/CUNY; Julia Lynch, University of North Carolina Wilmington; Katherine Cordova, Samara Community School; Jing Zhang, Carver-Lyon Elementary School; Carissa Trevino, Bellarie Elementary School; Alfonsina Paez, Samara Community School; Tara Kirton, Hunter College, The City University of New York (CUNY); Yandra Mordan
Location: 124, Pennsylvania Convention Center
2.45pm-3.15pm Q sessions
Critical Care Praxis: Cariño Pedagogy and Culturally Relevant Teaching in Early Childhood Literacy Classroom
Presenter: Yvette Marie Regalado, Lamar University, Carissa Treviño, Bellaire Elementary School
Location: 109-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Relational Repair in Picturebooks: Narrative Models for Relational Difficulty and Connection in Literacy Classrooms
Presenter: Bambi He, University of Pennsylvania
Location: 103-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Inspiring Hope and Imagining Possibilities with Latinx Children’s Picturebooks
Nancy Valdez-Gainer and Jesse Gainer
Location: 204-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
3.30pm-4pm R sessions
4.15pm-5.30pm S sessions
Meet the NCTE Editors
Language Arts Editors: Wintre Foxworth Johnson, Kindel Nash, Erik Sumner, Roderick Peele, Alicia Arce Boardman, Teaira McMurtry
Location: 108-A, Pennsylvania Convention Center
Honoring the 100 Languages of Young Children: Early Childhood Multiliteracies at the Intersections of Reggio Emilia and Dual Language Pedagogy
Lilly Padia, Sandra Osorio, Luisiana Melendez
Location: 120-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
CANCELLED
5.45pm-7pm
Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) Business Meeting with Invited Talk: Revolutionary Love: Building Community, Sustaining Advocacy
Session Chair: Jesse Gainer, Texas State University-San Marcos Session Chair: Ysaaca Axelrod, University of Massachusetts Amherst Committee/Assembly/Caucus Chair: Kara Taylor, Texas A &M University- Texarkana. Presenters: Eliza Braden, University of South Carolina; Kamania Wynter-Hoyte, University of South Carolina, Sanjuana Rodriguez; Michele Myers, Wake Forest University; Natasha Thornton, Spelman College; Jordan Freeman, University of Georgia; Brooke Blacknall, Fulton County Schools
Location: 107-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
SUNDAY
8.15am-8.45am T sessions
8:15 AM - 8:45 AM EST
Teaching with Trees
Alison James, Treewild Forest Classroom/Neal Porter Books/Charlesbridge Publishing
Location: 108-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center
9am-10.15am U sessions
10.30am-11.45am V sessions
Reading Lives as Texts: Multimodal Storytelling to Build Cultural Competence and Fight for Equity
Presenters: Kara Taylor, Texas A &M University- Texarkana, Taylor Box, Indiana University Indianapolis, JaVaughn Hardaway, IU Indianapolis, Aleshia Smith, IU Indianapolis
Location: 116, Pennsylvania Convention Center